Uzume stood on the edge of the cliff, her magnificent wings stretched out defiantly as she surveyed the valley below. She had been called from the depths of her reincarnation's subconscious mind to deal with the matter at hand. It had gone too far for the woman to handle on her own, even as powerful as she had grown.
"It is indeed fortunate that I was called into a body that isn't even human," the goddess of dawn thought, even while knowing fortune had little to do with it.
"Spawn of a fallen archangel and Zodiac. The question remains whether she has inherited any of her father's demonic blood, or was the angel strong enough?" she mused, the question bothering everyone who know her host. Belial was a powerful demon, once a strong archangel, and the host had been conceived before the Fall, his Fall as well.
It was a concern, but the host's Zodiac blood seemed to overwhelm any tendencies the woman might have had towards her demonic nature. The host was becoming extremely adept at controlling her adaptability, a gift from the Zodiac mother - her latest achievement was controlling her body's metabolism to warm areas where she needed it most and direct her body heat consciously. She was also growing stronger, able to communicate with spirits on earth with thoughts rather than emotions and had to learn how to block them before she grew overwhelmed with the voices in her mind.
"You do know I'm only here because of her. I owe you nothing," Fukurokuju growled, wings tucked tightly against his wolf form as he surveyed her. He was accustomed to dealing with the host, not the dormant reincarnation tucked away inside her soul, and was on edge. The demonic werewolf half-breed and Uzume's host had a complicated relationship, one now established on a mutual desire for power, protection and the inability to rid themselves of the inadvertent bond between them. They avoided each other's physical forms as much as possible, but the ability to channel power to each other was an invaluable ability, especially lately.
"She would not have lasted so long without your power," Uzume replied calmly, her wings slowly folding and stretching to the sky. They were her host's wings - her host's body - and they had grown to accommodate the enormous amount of power she could now store in them. He acknowledged the thanks with a low growl.
"Now, now, children, behave," Loki scolded them, appearing on the other side of the pair and smirking, as he was wont to do. "We're here to take care of them, aren't we? So stop bickering, unless you want her to just fade away after you two are ripped apart. That means your bond will be destroyed as well," he reminded the demon-were, turning to glare at him.
The creature displayed impressive fangs. "Let them try."
"They have been," Uzume said shortly. The betraying angel, the succubus and the ignorant youkai - they were attempting to separate her soul from her host's. It would kill the host, send Uzume into the Realms lost, and destroy any and all bonds the physical body possessed. Her power would be gone, up for grabs for whomever was fast enough to find it. "Why do you think she's been pulling at you all week? She's afraid to go to sleep - they can pull her into astral projection easily if she's asleep, so she remains awake all night."
"I know that," Fukurokuju shot back. He cared nothing for the goddess and little for the host. But what little existed was strong and he was reluctant to have it ripped so carelessly from him. "What's the plan?"
"We're going to do what we should have done before," Loki interrupted, his smirk deepening into something much more sinister. Another winged figure appeared next to him - the gambling god who went by the name Sevens and many others, a powerful deity much older than Loki. "We're going to rip them to shreds. Binding their power wasn't enough - now, they die."
"Physically?"
"That's the best part," the newest member replied. "Their physical bodies will remain intact, their human minds stable. But they'll feel the pain, the loss and know exactly what kind of power we've ripped from them. They'll never be able to perform even the most basic ward."
"What has she said?" the demon-were demanded. The host had been bloodthirsty before, but had refused to actually kill these three up until now. Uzume shook her head.
"She has agreed. She wants her soul intact as much as I."
They turned back to the valley, where the betrayers held court in the fallen angel's castle. They had slipped into the realm easily enough thanks to Sevens' power and had surveyed the area. They spread their wings and dropped from the edge, prepared to leave a trail of blood and bodies to achieve their goal.
